Teaching  Children 
in  China 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/teachingchildrenOOIing 


in  China 

at  the 

Canton  Christian  College 


The  College  Primary  School 

H.  B.  Graybill 

Report  of  the  Primary  School 

Sz-to  Wai 

Christmas  at  the  C.  C.  C. 

Julia  Post  Mitchell 

A Natural  Out-Growth 


Trustees  of  the 
Canton  Christian  College 

156  Fifth  Avenue 
New  York 
1915 


t/ 


* 


SZ-TO  WAI 

PRINCIPAL  OF  PRIMARY  SCHOOL 


PRIMARY  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


THE  COLLEGE  PRIMARY  CLASSROOM 
TEACHER  CHAN 


This  shows  the  interior  of  the  wooden  bungalow  still 
used  by  the  Primary  School,  and  the  little 
family  group  idea 


OLD  STYLE  CHINESE  SCHOOL 


Note  the  footstools — the  floor  is  wet.  The  teacher  sits 
behind  the  students  who  face  the  only  window 
in  the  room 


Teaching  Children  in  China 


3 


I. 


COLLEGE  PRIMARY  SCHOOL 

HENRY  B.  GRAYBILL 

The  Canton  Christian  College  has  a model 
Primary  School.  If  its  development  contin- 
ues American  and  European  educationalists 
will  be  making  pilgrimages  to  China  for  the 
latest  exhibits  and  inspiration.  The  secret 
is  largely  in  the  personality  of  its  young 
Chinese  master,  who  seems  younger  as  he 
gets  older,  and  is  constantly  growing  in 
Christ-like  devotion  to  the  children.  An 
Englishman  who  recently  visited  the  College, 
said,  “That  little  school  of  a hundred  chil- 
dren on  your  lower  campus  is  the  best  pri- 
mary school  I have  seen  anywhere  in  China, 
or  even” — a solemn  pause — “in  England.” 

The  principal  of  this  Primary  School,  Mr. 
Sz-to  Wai,  pronounced  Zitto-wai,  graduated 
from  the  C.  C.  C.  Middle  School  a few  years 
ago.  You  couldn’t  pass  him  without  asking, 
“Who  is  that?”  A slender,  graceful  fellow 
with  fine  thoughtful  eyes,  a splendid  forehead 
and  a radiant  smile.  A glance  at  his  face 
seems  to  sweep  every  sad  or  unworthy 
thought  from  your  mind.  This  is  the  effect 
he  has  upon  every  one.  The  C.  C.  C.  had 
been  to  him  a “Ho-tsoi”  (Lucky  Find).  Be- 
fore he  had  finished  the  first  half  year  in  a 
course  in  the  Principles  of  Education  he  had 
caught  fire  from  his  American  teachers  and 
determined  to  start  a primary  school.  The 
C.  C.  C.  teachers  were  wise  enough  not  to 


4 


Canton  Christian  College 


kill  a modern  prophet  in  order  to  make  this 
boy  fit  scholastic  methods.  As  a student, 
Mr.  Sz-to  showed  a keen  artistic  instinct 
and  did  such  good  work  with  pen  and  pen- 
cil and  brush  that  his  profession  seemed  to 
be  already  marked  out  for  him.  But  China's 
greater  need  appealed  to  the  heart  of  this 
young  artist,  and  he  became  possessed  with 
the  desire  to  deliver  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  Chinese  children  who  were  grind- 
ing away  their  young  lives  from  sunrise 
to  sunset  in  dark  rooms  over  equally  gloomy 
books,  and  lead  in  the  discovery  of  a better 
school  life  for  boys  and  girls. 

He  persuaded  the  Student  Christian  As- 
sociation to  help  him,  and  in  the  following 
autumn  started  the  first  classes,  most  of 
the  pupils  being  children  of  the  Chinese 
teachers  in  the  College  and  of  the  work- 
men on  the  College  grounds.  Never  has 
a school  been  suffused  by  so  perfect  a spirit 
from  its  beginning.  He  consulted  every- 
body, investigated  differences  of  opinion, 
and  was  himself  so  sincere  and  faithful  that 
everything  went  smoothly.  Families  of  the 
better  class,  both  Christians  and  non-Chris- 
tians, with  the  ancient  Chinese  appreciation 
of  discipline  and  character,  of  ‘'bringing- 
up’',  have  rejoiced  at  this  real  child-train- 
ing and  have  filled  the  school  to  its  doors. 
They  are  now  sending  their  children  seven 
years  old  and  upward  as  boarding  pupils  to 
a Christian  school  under  American  control, 
and  giving  to  Mr.  Sz-to  a free  hand.  In 
America,  we  must  often  work  against  all 
forms  of  conservatism,  but  in  this  ancient 


Teaching  Children  in  China 


5 


land  of  China  this  new  teacher  finds  him- 
self free.  This  very  fact  has  made  him  care- 
ful. The  originality  of  his  methods,  the 
quaintness  of  some  of  his  devices  and  the 
absolute  emptying  of  himself  into  that  school 
make  us  all  feel  that  we  are  nothing  but 
second-bests  as  long  as  he  is  about.  He  has 
gone  forward  on  plain  principles.  Sym- 
pathy and  simplicity  characterize  the  teacher, 
and  free  self-activity,  based  on  good  natural 
motives,  is  the  governing  power  in  the 
school. 

The  children  are  up  in  the  morning  at  the 
sound  of  the  gong;  they  jump  into  their 
clothes  and  rush  out  to  till  and  water  their 
little  gardens  before  the  sun  catches  them. 
Then  they  all  wash  up  and  have  breakfast. 
Following  breakfast  comes  school  with  lots 
of  interesting  things  to  do  as  well  as  to 
learn.  It  is  much  easier  to  learn  the  diffi- 
cult Chinese  characters,  over  which  so  many 
weary  hours  were  spent  by  the  old  method, 
for  Mr.  Sz-to  and  his  teachers  teach  the 
character  and  meaning  at  the  same  time, 
concretely.  The  children  draw  a picture 
of  the  water-buffalo  and  then  have  great  fun 
writing  the  Chinese  characters,  “head”, 
“back,”  “tail,”  “legs,”  etc.,  in  the  proper 
places  on  their  outline  picture. 

How  they  love  to  sing  and  play  games! 
These  were  unknown  features  of  school  life 
until  the  missionaries  introduced  them.  One 
of  our  students  once  said  that  the  Chinese 
boy  needed  to  have  his  “instincts  revived.” 
That  is  what  Mr.  Sz-to  has  done  with  the 
boys  and  girls  in  the  Primary  School.  In 


6 


Canton  Christian  College 


the  native  schools  they  had  their  natural 
impulses  suppressed  to  make  them  appear 
like  mature  and  dignified  scholars. 

Boy  Scout  work  falls  right  in  with  Mr. 
Sz-to’s  plan,  as  does  every  other  natural 
method  of  development.  He  has  succeeded 
in  putting  into  practice  many  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  modern  primary  education,  with- 
out ever  having  seen  a model  primary  school 
in  operation.  Probably  this  is  because  he 
has  made  a very  genuine  study  of  child  na- 
ture and  needs,  experimentally,  having  been 
assisted  by  discussions  with  his  Ameri- 
can teachers  and  by  reading  educational 
literature. 

It  is  all  so  new  and  inspiring  to  him  that 
it  actually  saps  his  physical  energy.  The 
Summer  Teachers’  Institute,  carried  on  by 
the  College,  too,  relies  upon  him  for  lectures 
and  demonstrations  on  Primary  Education. 
A population  of  thirty  millions  are  waiting 
for  thousands  of  such  leaders  and  model 
schools.  The  College  must  secure  from  our 
American  colleges  a group  of  skilled,  scien- 
tific primary  teachers,  just  as  it  is  gradu- 
ally building  up  a staff  of  highly  qualified 
physicians  to  deal  with  the  difficult  health 
problems  of  the  Orient.  As  the  work  of 
teacher-training  is  largely  in  the  English 
language,  American  teachers  can  begin 
work  and  the  study  of  the  problem  at  once. 
They  must  be  sent  out  and  supported  by 
the  friends  of  Education. 


Teaching  Children  in  China 


7 


II. 

REPORT  OF  THE  PRIMARY  SCHOOL 
MR.  SZ-TO  WAI 

We  are  glad  to  report  that  the  present 
condition  of  the  school  is  better  than  during 
the  two  years  which  have  passed.  There 
are  now  the  four  regular  grades  in  good 
running  order  with  special  teachers  for  each 
grade.  The  curriculum  is  fixed  and  satis- 
factory. Close  attention  is  paid  to  corre- 
lation with  the  Grammar  School.  The 
boarding  department,  which  we  consider  as 
the  hardest  part  of  the  school  to  conduct  is 
working  very  systematically  under  our  ex- 
perienced matron.  I should  say  then  that 
the  good  condition  of  the  year  is  due  mainly 
to  our  present  better  organized  staff. 


Teachers 

1911 

2 

1912 

4 

1913 

4 

1914 

5 

Student  Enrollment 

36 

58 

90 

106 

Residents  in  Primary  School 
Dormitories 

18 

44 

81 

98 

Day  Students  

18 

14 

9 

8 

I am  glad  to  give  a short  history  of  the 
members  of  our  staff: 

Miss  Ue  Ngaam  Chuk,  graduate  of  the 
first  Government  Woman's  Normal  School, 
and  principal  of  Yuk  Wa  Girls'  Primary 
School  for  two  years,  became  one  of  our 
staff  last  September  (1913).  Now  she  is 
the  teacher  of  the  First  Year  class,  which 
has  the  nature  of  a Kindergarten.  Though 
some  of  the  small  children  are  very  hard 
to  manage,  her  unfailing  patience,  gentle 


8 


Canton  Christian  College 


voice  and  sweetness  of  her  person  over- 
whelms their  roughness  and  disobedience. 
We  see  rapid  changes  in  most  of  the  stu- 
dents. We  have  confidence  that  she  will 
be  an  increasing  help  to  the  school  in  future 
years. 

Miss  Chau  Yuk  Lun  had  been  under  Ch’an 
Tsz  P’o’s  teaching  for  many  years,  then 
taught  for  some  years  in  Kong  Moon.  She 
joined  our  staff  the  beginning  of  1912.  She 
began  as  teacher  of  the  Fourth  Year  class 
but  now  is  teaching  the  Second  Year,  as  she 
feels  that  that  age  is  better  suited  to  her. 
With  her  natural  personal  influence  the 
children  obey  and  do  the  full  and  good  work 
of  their  class.  This  is  no  doubt  an  encourag- 
ing class. 

Mr.  Young  Kwok  Chuen  began  to  do  the 
full  work  of  a teacher  and  business  manager 
at  the  beginning  of  1913.  He  is  now  the 
teacher  or  advisor  of  the  Third  Year  class, 
but  also  teaches  Nature  Study,  Geography 
and  Mathematics  in  some  of  the  other 
classes.  He  is  a born  teacher  and  a great 
friend  of  the  children.  Seeing  his  spirit 
and  work,  we  can  say  he  is  one  of  the  pillars 
of  the  Primary  School.  At  the  solemn  re- 
quest of  the  Committee  he  promised  to  work 
four  years  more  for  the  school. 

Miss  P’ang  Pui  Yin  was  a student  for 
some  years  under  CITan  Tsz  P’o  and  a 
teacher  in  his  best  branch  school.  It  is  a 
great  privilege  to  have  such  an  efficient 
teacher  in  Chinese  literature  join  our  staff. 
She  is  now  the  teacher  of  the  Fourth  Year 
class.  We  shall  expect  now  that  the  stu- 


Teaching  Children  in  China 


9 


dents  will  be  better  able  to  enter  the  Gram- 
mar School  in  Chinese  than  before. 

Miss  Hoh  Po  Wun  is  an  all-round  sided 
matron.  With  her  thoughtful  plans  and 
thorough  experience  the  boarding  depart- 
ment is  very  much  better  than  ever  before. 
Besides  being  a matron,  she  teaches  singing 
in  the  Second,  Third  and  Fourth  years.  The 
excellent  singing  of  the  children  speaks  for 
her  ability.  We  are  sorry  that  she  will  have 
to  leave  us  next  semester,  as  soon  as  we  can 
secure  someone  to  take  her  place.  This  will 
be  difficult. 

Miss  Ch’an  Yuk  Kwan,  Mr.  Ch’an  Chap 
Ng’s  sister,  was  willing  to  become  assistant 
matron  of  the  school.  She  began  work  in 
1913.  It  is  true  to  say  that  almost  every 
time  we  see  her  she  is  under  patient  work 
for  the  children,  such  as  marking  and  ex- 
amining their  clothing  or  mending  stockings 
and  mosquito  nets.  She  is  really  a mother 
to  the  children. 

Miss  Chau  Yuk  Lin,  also  a student  under 
Ch’an  Tsz  P’o,  acts  as  assistant  matron  and 
substitute  teacher  of  the  school.  She  also 
has  charge  of  the  outdoor  exercise  of  the 
First  Year  children.  She  is  not  satisfied 
to  be  a teacher  so  young.  With  all  possible 
strength  she  is  working  for  the  school  so 
as  to  obtain  a further  study  of  modern  learn- 
ing through  English. 

Miss  Ch’an  Kwai  Haan  was  a teacher  in 
the  school  during  the  beginning  two  years. 
She  thought  that  it  would  be  better  for  her 
to  establish  her  own  school,  and  with  the 
help  of  many  sympathizers  this  was  done  at 


10 


Canton  Christian  College 


Fat  Shaan  under  the  name  of  the  “Kwai 
Haan  Primary  School.’’  There  were  about 
twenty  children  of  various  ages.  Very  fine 
work  and  much  good  influence  was  sown 
in  them.  But  in  thinking  of  the  perma- 
nence of  the  school  and  the  condition  of  our 
school  during  her  absence,  and  after  long 
and  sincere  discussion,  both  by  mail  and 
face  to  face,  she  felt  that  she  should  return 
to  the  school.  Miss  Ch’an’s  school  was  able 
to  move  back  here  December  29,  1913.  Be- 
fore she  herself  returns  she  will  finish  her 
course  in  Kindergarten  under  Mrs.  Bigelow 
so  that  she  can  work  more  efficiently.  On 
hearing  of  the  return  of  Miss  Ch’an,  all  our 
school  and  every  one  in  the  College  that 
knows  her  rejoices. 

Sz-to-Wai.  Though  strength  and  knowl- 
edge are  weak  and  imperfect,  I always  en- 
courage myself  and  awake  my  senses  to 
work  willingly  as  hard  as  my  nerves  and 
strength  permit.  I try  to  maintain  and 
work  up  to  our  Ideal  so  that  our  school  will 
be  the  most  fruitful  work  of  our  Student 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  The  following  are  my  aims: 
Make  close  friendship  with  all  the  children 
and  teachers ; draw  close  connection  between 
the  parents  and  our  school;  interest  every 
visitor  that  comes  and  get  suggestions  from 
them;  introduce  every  encouragement  and 
interest  in  all  our  fellow-workers. 

Things  that  Should  be  Done  for  the  Teachers 
and  Students  of  Our  School 

We  work  together  here,  happily,  with 
brotherly  love,  all  of  the  same  will  and  view. 


Teaching  Children  in  China  ii 


One  leads,  others  follow.  One  begins,  others 
join.  That  makes  our  hearts  lighter  and  the 
work  smoother,  although  we  are  all  young 
workers  and  our  experience  is  meager  and 
our  steps  unsure.  We  need  more  study  and 
reading  of  English  books  on  Education. 
Down  here  in  our  school,  in  the  morning  and 
in  the  evening,  we  have  two  short  classes  in 
beginning  English.  We  teach  what  we  know 
to  some  of  our  teachers  so  as  to  lay  the  step- 
ping stones  to  further  study  in  the  language, 
and  some  teachers  in  the  College  are  now 
allowing  our  teachers  to  listen  in  their  class- 
rooms so  that  they  may  learn  the  English 
language  to  read  and  discuss  modern  meth- 
ods in  English.  For  this  we  hope  the  Col- 
lege Girls'  School  will  start  soon  in  order 
to  give  better  opportunity  to  the  members 
of  our  staff. 

The  temporary  school  buildings  (old  bung- 
alows) are  those  which  once  were  the  dormi- 
tories and  classrooms  of  the  College.  The 
rooms  have  been  rearranged  to  suit  as  dor- 
mitories and  classrooms  for  our  children. 
The  teachers'  rooms  are  placed  in  the  midst 
of  the  dormitories  so  that  each  teacher  may 
care  for  some  students.  All  the  classrooms 
but  one  and  the  dining-room  and  laundry 
are  placed  in  the  north  building.  All  the 
rooms  are  well  ventilated  and  lighted.  As 
the  buildings  are  very  inflammable,  we  are 
very  anxious  to  have  a permanent  school 
built.  Fortunately,  a sum  of  over  ten  thou- 
sand Hk.  (Mexican)  dollars  has  been  given 
to  us  by  the  parents  of  the  children  and  by 
some  rich  men  in  Canton  and  Hongkong  for 


12 


Canton  Christian  College 


this  purpose.  Small  cottages  will  be  built, 
each  of  which  will  cost  about  $4,000  Mexi- 
can ($2,000  gold)  and  will  be  large  enough 
to  hold  20  children,  a teacher  and  some  serv- 
ants. Classrooms  and  dining  hall  are  also 
provided  in  it. 

The  things  that  we  need  at  present  most 
of  all  are  the  proper  kind  of  lavatories,  bath- 
rooms and  wet  season  playground,  and 
enough  apparatus  for  most  of  the  children 
at  recess.  We  need  them  so  badly  that  we 
are  not  even  satisfied  with  the  thought  that 
we  shall  have  them  in  our  new  buildings. 
Then  we  need  a set  of  permanent  desks,  at 
least  enough  for  forty  children,  who  are  now 
using  easily  broken  ones  which  are  also  un- 
comfortable. In  order  to  answer  these 
needs,  the  permanent  cottages  for  the 
school  should  be  begun  at  once  and  by  the 
beginning  of  next  semester  there  will  be  a 
good  opportunity  for  us  to  renew  our  sub- 
scription campaign.  We  must  wait  till 
something  is  done  first.  Many  of  the  parents 
have  not  yet  helped  and  many  do  not  even 
know  of  this  enterprise. 

School  Life, 

Our  school  is  similar  to  a small  kingdom 
of  the  primitive  age  in  China  or  in  Euro- 
pean countries.  Teachers  are  as  kings  and 
lords.  They  are  in  close  touch  with  their 
children  subjects  and  can  oftener  show  kind- 
ness to  them,  punish  them  and  influence 
them  than  an  Emperor  in  a Great  Empire. 
The  children  have  very  little  knowledge  and 
will.  They  are  poor  in  heart  and  depend- 


BOY  SCOUTS  PUTTING  UP  TENTS 


The  College  campus  of  a hundred  acres,  by  the  river, 
affords  opportunity  for  real  outdoor  life  for  the  children 


BOY  SCOUTS  STARTING  FOR  A HIKE 


The  hills  and  fields  around  the  College  are  a great  play- 
ground in  the  dry  season 


PHYSICAL  DRILL,  OLD  STYLE 


THE  COLLEGE  PRIM  l 


EXHIBITION  DRILL 


MARCHING  TO  CHAPEL,  OLD  STYLE 


HOOL  CHILDREN 


MARCHING  TO  CHAPEL  IN  UNIFORM 


LITTLE  NURSES  CARRYING  BABY  BROTHERS 
The  Chinese  saying  is,  “Two  pounds  carry  one” 


RAW  MATERIAL 


Some  one  has  called  this  picture  of  one  of  our  neighbors 
“Canton  Christian  College  or  bust” 


Teaching  Children  in  China  13 


ent.  But  they  have  their  own  customs  and 
enterprises.  Acting  freely  and  violently  in 
some  respects,  yet  in  many  things  they  look 
up  to  their  teachers  for  advice.  When  the 
teachers  are  happy  they  are  happy.  When  the 
teachers  feel  tired  or  are  in  trouble,  they 
are  accordingly  affected.  They  love  their 
teachers  and  their  teachers  love  them.  If 
there  were  more  indoor  play  quarters  their 
condition  would  be  much  better  for  the 
teachers  could  entertain  them  and  play  with 
them  more. 


Gifts  to  the  School 

When  I come  to  think  of  the  start  of  the 
school,  I cannot  help  but  admire  our  simple 
schoolmates  and  friends  who  so  generously 
subscribed  money  and  presented  furniture 
to  the  school.  With  their  spirit  and  help 
our  school  was  built.  Out  of  the  numerous 
sympathizers  there  are  two  friends  that  we 
should  always  remember,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John 
Weekes,  whose  gifts  were  just  in  time  to 
help  out  our  financial  trouble,  and  Mrs. 
Weekes  even  promised  to  help  us  $250 
yearly. 

We  are  happy  to  say,  and  it  is  quite  an 
encouragement  to  us,  that  our  school  is  in 
the  hearts  of  many  parents  and  friends. 
The  present  amount  of  $11,500  Mex.  of  sub- 
scriptions shows  how  deep  is  their  interest 
Seeing  this,  teachers,  should  not  we  in  our 
dreams  and  thought  remember  always  how 
to  make  our  school  firmer  and  better,  so  that 
we  shall  not  fail  the  hope  of  our  friends? 


14  Canton  Christian  College 
III. 

CHRISTMAS  AT  THE  C.  C.  C. 

JULIA  POST  MITCHELL 

Do  you  want  to  hear  about  Christmas  at 
the  antipodes? 

Two  days  before  Christmas,  the  Primary 
School  children  gave  an  entertainment.  The 
children  sang  and  the  teachers  sang  and  the 
children  acted  stories  from  the  Bible.  The 
most  memorable  of  these  was  Joseph,  sold 
by  his  brethren  to  the  Egyptians.  The 
“buyer”  was  a mite  mounted  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  other  mites  and  the  infants  showed 
their  satisfaction  at  what  they  evidently  con- 
sidered a decided  bargain,  in  a most  amus- 
ing way.  The  flight  of  the  children  of  Israel 
through  the  Red  Sea  and  the  pursuit  of  the 
hosts  of  Egypt  was  fine.  Pharaoh,  proudly 
riding  in  his  chariot  (the  children’s  shoul- 
ders again),  surrounded  by  the  flower  of 
his  army,  gallivanted  across  the  platform 
only  to  be  caught  by  the  rolling  billows. 
They  all  fell  to  the  ground  with  a great  clat- 
ter, with  arms  frantically  outstretched  for 
help  which  never  came,  until  they  were 
buried  in  oblivion  by  the  pitiless  waves  while 
the  Children  of  Israel  stood  by  and  exulted. 

There  were  very  few  “properties”,  but 
Joseph’s  coat  was  a dashing  many-flowered 
kimono  and  Pharaoh’s  crown  of  pink  and 
gold  paper  nearly  a foot  high.  The  “pit” 
was  a palm  behind  which  Joseph  was  un- 
ceremoniously “chucked”  by  his  brothers. 
The  babies  that  represented  old  men  were 


Teaching  Children  in  China  15 

distinguished  by  long  beards.  The  rest  of 
the  outfitting  was  all  suggested  by  their  act- 
ing, which  was  spirited. 

On  the  day  before  Christmas,  in  the  morn- 
ing, Mrs.  Woods  had  a party  for  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Primary.  The  children  were  in 
festive  array  and  their  shining,  eager  little 
faces  were  a sight  good  to  see.  Santa  Claus's 
appearance  gave  the  usual  satisfaction ; 
there  were  few  who  recognized  Dr.  Woods 
through  his  rather  thin  disguise,  but  for 
most  of  them  he  was  swathed  in  delight- 
ful mystery. 

In  the  afternoon  all  the  children  from  the 
village  school  in  Sang  Fung  Wong,  nearby, 
also  came  to  the  College  for  a party.  The 
entertainment  for  this  was  managed  by  Miss 
Liu,  in  co-operation  with  Mrs.  Laird  and  the 
teacher  of  that  school,  and  given  by  the  chil- 
dren themselves.  These  are  very,  very  poor, 
ignorant  people.  It  was  a special  delight  to 
see  them  gathered  together  in  a warm,  com- 
fortable room,  having  a good  time,  and  to 
see  each  child  carry  away  a stocking  with 
something  good  to  eat  in  it,  and  something 
warm  to  wear.  Many  of  the  mothers  came, 
too,  and  looked  delighted  at  their  children's 
prowess  in  singing  and  reciting. 

On  Christmas  eve  the  members  of  the 
faculty  each  entertained  a class  of  boys. 
Miss  Kelly  and  I had  a party  for  the  boys 
in  the  fourth  year  Middle  School.  There 
were  twenty-four  of  them  and  they  pretty 
nearly  took  the  roof  off.  As  soon  as  they 
arrived  we  told  them  that  a catty  of  pea- 
nuts and  quite  a number  of  English  walnuts 


16  Canton  Christian  College 

were  hidden  in  my  sitting-room.  They  were 
invited  to  turn  the  place  upside  down  and 
see  who  could  find  the  most.  I wish  you 
could  have  heard  the  bedlam.  In  less  time 
than  you  can  think,  they  found  them  all — 
or  thought  they  had — and  told  us  so.  “You 
have  done  pretty  well,”  I said,  “but  there 
are  about  sixty  or  seventy  more  to  find.” 
At  this  they  all  turned  to  eagerly  again,  but 
it  was  nearly  five  minutes  before  the  secret 
was  discovered  and  they  found  a quantity 
sticking  in  the  bottom  of  the  rattan  chairs. 

After  the  peanut  fray  was  over  they  felt 
at  home  and  we  just  played  games  the  rest 
of  the  evening.  What  I most  enjoyed  was 
seeing  those  young  giants  down  on  the  floor 
rolling  walnuts  with  their  noses  over  the 
“race-track”  on  my  longest  rug.  “For  this 
game,”  I said,  “we  need  three  people  who 
are  not  proud.”  One  boy  volunteered  eagerly 
— he  was  the  leading  student  in  the  class,— 
and  presently  the  three  were  found  and 
started.  I never  saw  anything  funnier.  Then 
they  chose  the  next  three.  One  of  the  new 
victims  was  dressed  in  the  most  gorgeous 
dress  (dull-blue  brocade  coat)  I ever  want 
to  see.  It  had  a sort  of  long  undercoat  of 
a darker  blue  that  came  below.  He  looked 
pleadingly  at  his  costume  and  begged  to  be 
excused.  The  boys  weren’t  going  to  let  him 
off,  but  I interposed  and  said  that  I thought 
he  would  have  to  entertain  us  in  some  other 
way.  They  all  laughed  derisively  and  said, 
“Oh!  you  are  too  beautiful,”  but  the  boy 
looked  relieved.  Many  of  the  boys  were 
dressed  in  western  fashion ; others  wore 


Teaching  Children  in  China  17 

dark  maroon  cloth  coats,  fastening  on  the 
side,  or  dark  blue  or  very  dark  gray. 
These  coats  are  more  becoming  to  them  than 
our  stiff  coats  are,  but  they  wear  the  western 
garb  very  well  too. 

What  charming  manners  these  boys  have. 
How  we  enjoy  their  naturalness  and  en- 
thusiasm. After  awhile  we  divided  them 
into  two  companies  and  played  a bean-bag 
game  where  they  threw  the  bean-bags  at  a 
board  containing  two  square  holes.  They 
were  so  fascinated  by  this  that  we  couldn't 
persuade  them  to  stop  even  long  enough  for 
refreshments,  excepting  in  the  intervals  be- 
tween their  turns.  I enjoyed  the  courtly 
restraint  they  showed  about  taking  the  candy 
and  nuts  we  passed  to  them.  One,  two,  yes 
— but  no  more,  but  when  I put  the  plates 
conveniently  at  hand,  remarking,  “Help  your- 
selves, please!"  in  a remarkably  short  time 
there  were  none  in  sight. 

Christmas  morning  there  was  a service 
in  the  bamboo  mat  shed  chapel  for  all  the 
schools,  chiefly  musical.  At  the  same  time 
there  was  a Christmas  tree  at  the  Medical 
School  Hospital  to  which  all  the  work- 
people's children,  and  their  mothers,  and  all 
the  hospital  nurses  and  servants,  the  boat- 
men's children,  and  others  went.  There 
were  stockings  with  candy,  nuts,  an  orange, 
and  something  warm  to  wear  in  each.  The 
hospital  nurses  did  all  the  decorating.  Some 
of  this  was  very  pretty.  They  framed  all 
the  doorways  with  green  garlands  that  looked 
like  laurel  leaves  and  stuck  paper  flowers 
among  the  leaves  in  a very  realistic  fashion. 


18  Canton  Christian  College 

At  eleven  o'clock  the  American  children 
had  a party  at  Dr.  McCracken's  house,  and 
sang  songs  and  carols,  and  Tom  Woods  re- 
cited “The  Night  Before  Christmas."  The 
little  indistinguishable  Woods  twins  sang  a 
song  about  Tiddledy  Winks  and  Tiddledy 
Wee,  “two  little  fishes  that  lived  in  the  sea, 
that  were  as  alike  as  alike  could  be,"  and 
accompanied  their  singing  with  fin-like  mo- 
tions of  their  small  hands. 

We  then  finished  the  day  with  a Christ- 
mas dinner  party  at  President  Edmunds’. 
Every  person  on  the  College  grounds  and 
nearby  village  had  had  a Christmas  party 
and  knew  why  this  day  meant  happiness  for 
us,  and  w'hy  we  wished  it  to  bring  the  same 
to  them. 


Why  a Primary  School  at  a College 

The  presence  of  a primary  school  is  neces- 
sary to  the  all-around  education  of  the  older 
students  and  teachers  under  training.  The 
Middle  School  and  College  students  take  the 
children  for  walks  and  teach  them  in  school 
and  Sunday  School  and  are  themselves  deeply 
influenced  by  the  sense  of  the  little  fellows 
working  up  to  them. 


Teaching  Children  in  China  19 


IV. 


OLD  AND  NEW  METHODS 

W.  HENRY  GRANT 

The  change  from  the  old  to  the  new  method 
of  teaching  Chinese  reading  and  writing 
may  be  told  in  a few  words.  By  the  old 
method  the  teacher  gave  the  sound  for  each 
character  and  the  student  repeated  it  after 
him.  In  this  way  a series  of  characters  were 
learned  and  the  student  continued  to  repeat 
them  for  several  hours  a day  until  they 
were  well  fixed  in  his  memory.  To  assist 
him  in  associating  the  sound  with  the  char- 
acter, he  committed  to  memory  a pile  of 
twelve  books.  The  first  of  these  is  called 
“The  Three  Character  Classic”.  On  each 
page  there  are  thirty  characters  arranged 
so  as  to  read  down  the  page,  there  being 
two  sets  of  three  characters  each  in  a column. 
The  students  repeated  these  character  sounds 
out  loud,  there  being  ten  to  twenty  boys  in 
the  same  room,  usually  no  two  of  them  study- 
ing the  same  page.  To  help  themselves  along 
they  acquired  a sort  of  sing-song  rhythm  and 
learned  to  jingle  through  the  following 
twelve  books  before  much  if  any  of  the  ex- 
planation or  meaning  of  the  characters  was 
given : 

The  Three  Primers  — 1,  San-Tsz-King, 
Three  Character  Classic;  2,  Tsien-Tsz-Wan, 
Thousand  Character  Composition,  in  which 
no  two  characters  are  the  same,  also  spoken 
of  as  the  Four  Character  Classic  because 
there  are  four  characters  to  the  poetic  line; 


20 


Canton  Christian  College 


3,  Yui-Hioh-Shi,  Young  Students'  Poem,  pen- 
temetri,  a kind  of  boys'  story  book.  [In  ad- 
dition to  these  the  Pih  Kia  Sing,  Century  of 
Surnames  (400) ; the  Hiao  King,  Canons  of 
Filial  Duty  and  the  Siao  King,  Juvenile  In- 
structor and  other  books  are  used.] 

The  Sz  Shu ; or,  Four  Books — 1,  Ta  Hiao, 
Superior  or  Great  Learning;  2,  Chung  Yung, 
Common  Medium;  3,  Lun  Yu,  Analects  of 
Confucius;  4,  Mang-tsz,  Mencius. 

The  Wu  King;  or,  Five  Classics — 1,  Yih 
King,  Book  of  Changes;  2,  Shu  King,  Book 
of  Records;  3,  Shi  King,  Book  of  Odes;  4, 
Li  Ki,  Book  of  Rites;  5,  Chun  Tsui,  Spring 
and  Autumn  Annals. 

These  twelve  books  and  sometimes  the 
commentaries  on  them  were  memorized  be- 
fore the  explanation  was  begun,  and  in  as 
much  as  it  took  the  student  three  to  five 
years  to  get  all  these  sounds  firmly  fixed  in 
his  head  nine  out  of  every  ten  boys  drop- 
ped out  of  school  before  they  came  to  the 
explanation,  for  most  of  them  a Chinese 
classical  education  was  almost  worthless,  ex- 
cepting for  its  discipline  and  the  penman- 
ship that  went  along  with  it. 

Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin  writes,  “Nothing 
could  be  more  dreary  than  the  labors  of  the 
first  stage.  The  pupil  comes  to  the  school  ‘a 
rough  gem  that  requires  grinding,'  but  the 
process  is  slow  and  painful.  His  books  are 
in  a dead  language,  unintelligible  even  to 
the  ear  of  the  educated,  and  the  sounds  of 
the  characters  convey  absolutely  no  mean- 
ing to  the  mind  of  the  beginner.  The  whole 
of  this  first  stage  is  a dead  lift  of  memory, 


Teaching  Children  in  China  21 


unalleviated  by  the  exercise  of  any  other 
faculty.” 


Take  for  example  the  first  four  characters 


of  the  Thousand  Character  Composition. 
Tien,  Heaven;  Ti,  Earth;  Yuan, 

black;  ^ Whang,  yellow,  which,  inter- 


preted, means  that  the  heaven  is  black  or 
sombre  and  the  earth  is  yellow.  The  sound, 
Yuan,  is  represented  by  at  least  twenty-six 
different  characters,  the  most  common  mean- 
ings attached  to  this  sound  are  black,  hard, 
urgent,  source,  park,  round,  reason,  ape,  the 
thill  of  a carriage,  a kind  of  plant,  and  sev- 
eral surnames,  such  as  President  Yuan. 
The  sound,  Whang,  or  Wang,  is  represented 
by  twenty-eight  or  more  characters.  There 
are  no  verbs  or  any  connectives  in  the  sen- 
tence. It  is  in  what  is  called  the  terse  clas- 
sical style  and  means  nothing  to  the  ordinary 
hearer. 

In  the  good  old  days  of  the  Classics  all 
the  science,  mathematics  and  nature  that  the 
scholar  learned  he  learned  outside  of  school. 

While  the  young  student  was  learning  the 
sounds  of  the  character  he  was  also  learn- 
ing to  write  them  with  a fine  hair  brush, 
that  is,  to  make  characters.  This  he  learned 
to  do  very  well,  so  that  even  if  he  did  not 
learn  the  meaning  of  the  Classics  he  did  learn 
to  write  and  might  later  learn  to  compose 
family  and  business  letters. 

The  modern  way  to  teaching  Chinese  is 
to  give  the  meaning  of  each  character,  pic- 
torially  along  with  its  sound,  and  to  teach 


22 


Canton  Christian  College 


simple  composition  from  the  beginning.  One 
can  better  understand  the  difficulty  of  the 
student  when  he  considers  that  while  each 
character  has  only  one  sound,  each  sound 
or  monosyllable  may  have  from  one  to  fifty, 
or  even  more,  different  characters.  A man 
does  not  speak  as  he  writes.  As  an  instance, 
when  he  is  speaking  he  says,  “good,  good,” 
but  when  writing,  “very  good,”  and  he  may 
use  several  characters  to  express  different 
shades  of  very. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  what  is  to 
become  of  a written  language  that  requires 
more  than  twice  as  long  to  master  as  it  does 
to  learn  to  read,  write  and  speak  a foreign 
tongue,  like  English,  which  also  makes  ac- 
cessible the  thoughts  and  discoveries  of  the 
West. 


A Nursery  Rhyme 

(Pronounce  the  a’s  broad.  Each  word  has  a peculiar 
tone  but  this  has  not  been  indicated) 

Hang,  hang,  hang, 

Chup  kaw  chang; 

Chang  ho  shik, 

Lo  ho  hang. 

Come,  come,  come, 

Get  the  orange; 

Orange  is  sweet, 

So  road  is  good. 


NEW  CHINESE  PRIMER  NUMBER  TWO 


ENGLISH  TRANSLATION — READ  DOWN,  RIGHT  TO  LEFT 


mouse 

cat 

go 

mouse 

cat 

not 

watch 

hole 

see 

big 

dare 

chair 

inside 

cat 

mouse 

out 

side 

little 

NEW  CHINESE  PRIMER  NUMBER  TWO 


ENGLISH  TRANSLATION — READ  DOWN,  RIGHT  TO  LEFT 


face 

dog 

dog 

climb 

cat 

cat 

not 

big 

house 

see 

loud 

can 

cat 

top 

dog 

bark 

catch 

little 

Teaching  Children  in  China  23 
V. 

A NATURAL  OUT-GROWTH 

This  model  primary  school  has  grown  up 
of  itself  because  the  soil  and  seed  were  pre- 
pared. The  Canton  Christian  College  has 
spent  and  will  spend  years  of  labor  secur- 
ing the  land,  the  buildings,  the  “atmosphere”, 
the  faculty,  the  other  workers,  the  good- 
will and  support  of  the  Chinese,  and  the 
American  friends,  all  these  necessary  ele- 
ments for  the  building  up  of  a group  of 
Christian  schools  at  Canton.  One  by  one 
they  grow  out  strong  and  genuine  from  the 
main  trunk.  Such  are  the  grammar  school 
department,  the  agricultural  department,  the 
medical  work,  the  girls'  schools,  the  summer 
schools  and  night  schools,  the  normal  train- 
ing and  the  manual  training. 

This  little  book  is  prepared  because  many 
members  of  the  General  Association  and 
others  are  interested  in  the  underlying  prob- 
lems of  the  work  as  well  as  its  development. 
Other  bulletins  may  be  had  for  the  asking. 

The  College  came  to  its  present  grounds, 
which  have  since  gradually  grown  from 
thirty  to  a hundred  acres,  only  ten  years  ago 
and  with  only  thirty-seven  students.  The 
total  enrollment  now  is  about  five  hundred. 
There  are  twenty-five  American  men  and 
women  at  the  College  and  twice  as  many 
Chinese  teachers  and  assistants. 

Sixty  of  the  C.  C.  C.  young  men  and 
women  are  studying  in  America.  Many  of 
them  will  return  to  work  on  the  problem  of 
educating  China's  hundred  million  children. 


24 


Canton  Christian  College 


The  College  needs  the  sympathy  and  help 
of  everyone  who  is  interested  in  that  prob- 
lem. If  you  are  interested  let  us  know; 
there  are  many  ways  that  you  can  help. 

The  General  Association  of  the  Canton 
Christian  College  seeks  to  organize  effort  for 
the  promotion  of  this  work  and  to  make  in- 
terest more  enlightened  and  vital. 

The  College  Trustees  are  incorporated  in 
the  State  of  New  York  under  the  laws  of 
the  Regents  of  New  York  University. 


I 


**»»*«• 


